Chương 37: The Beheader, Marv

"Brat—so it's you who disturbed my slumber!" On the castle's second floor, smoke and dust hung thick; everything around had been reduced to scorched, broken rubble. A bald, burly man gripping a beheading saber glared with round, bulging eyes, fury blazing as he fixed on Ryan. [Gold Boss: the Beheader, Marv (Hell): Second-in-command of Ashan Castle, in charge of order in the gallery. Cruel and merciless, and sleeps like his life depends on it! HP: 250, 000, Stamina: 60, 000, Attack: 1, 000, Defense: 800, Skills: Unknown, Level: 14] Compared to the Wine-and-Meat Monk, the Beheader Marv was indeed a fair bit stronger—but with Ryan's gear now fully upgraded, he had nothing to fear.

"Less talk—let's settle this hand to hand!" Ryan snorted. With the Boss drawn out, the gallery had been torched, wrecking the soldiers' respawn mechanism, leaving Marv a lone commander with no troops. So Ryan simply whipped out the gold-gleaming Mighty Battleaxe and charged.

"That's… the Mighty Battleaxe?! What did you do to my third brother?" Marv's gaze sharpened.

"You guess." The corner of Ryan's mouth curled, a flicker of mischief on his face—and under the 10x acceleration he became a blur, closing on Marv in an instant.

"Have a taste of my three swings!" Driving from the waist, Ryan hacked three axe-blows in the space of a blink. System: [Ding! Bone-Shatter triggered! Target stunned for 1 second!] The prompt sounded—he'd triggered the Mighty Battleaxe's passive, locking Marv in a stun! Mighty Force! Seizing the chance, Ryan activated the axe's active skill; his Strength surged 200 in an instant. Swish, swish, swish! A Silver longsword in one hand, the Gold battleaxe in the other, he rained down a storm of blows.

Stunned and unable to move, Marv took every strike on the joints his armor didn't cover—weak-point crits. -1, 000! -1, 001! -1, 002! … In a single second, Ryan struck over twenty times, dropping Marv's HP by a full tenth.

"AAARGH! I'll skin you alive!!!" The second passed; coming to his senses, Marv roared, and a glaring blood-red light suddenly kindled along his beheading saber.

"Oh, do shut up!" Unfazed, Ryan cast Summon the instant the saber swept down, using the wolves to block Marv's strike while he himself hammered away two-handed, the rain of blows pouring on. System: [Ding! Bone-Shatter triggered! Target stunned for 1 second!] Bone-Shatter again! The skill's trigger rate wasn't stated outright, but Ryan's high attack speed paired with his high Luck made it considerable. Another second of control, another tenth of Marv's HP gone.

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"AAGH! I'll—""Shut it!" Thump thump thump thump…

"I—""Shhh!" Thump thump thump…

"This… isn't this Boss a little too pathetic?" Behind the door, the women watched the figure pinning the Boss so utterly it couldn't even catch its breath, and couldn't help sucking in a cold breath. Who's the Boss here, exactly?!

"Don't just stand there gawking—come grab some damage!" Seeing Marv's HP nearing empty, Ryan called out, prompting the squad to attack. Boom!

"Oof… Marv…" The Beheader left those last words and toppled to the ground for good. System: [Ding! Third gate "Castle Gallery" cleared! Reward: 5, 000 dungeon points!] Swish, swish, swish! Everyone in the squad but Ryan rose another level.

"Whoa! We're all on the leaderboard!" Faye opened the Dragon Blood City level rankings and screenshotted them for the group. [Dragon Blood City Level Rankings] 1. Prince Playful [Class: Demon Warrior] Lv13 2. Balala [Class: Windwhisperer] Lv12 3. Sir Banana [Class: Searing Warrior] Lv12 4. DriftingSnow [Class: Frost Mage] Lv12 5. VioletCloudSong [Class: Thunderclap Mage] Lv12 6. StillNightChill [Class: Shadowchase Hunter] Lv12 7. RoseWhisper [Class: Blazing Mage] Lv12 8. WispCloud [Class: Light Priest] Lv12 …

"Not bad at all. If we clear the dungeon next, locking down the top five spots shouldn't be a problem." Ryan smiled faintly.

"Bro, how come everyone leveled up and made the board, but you didn't?" Lucy looked at him with a touch of worry, tugging his arm.

"That, well… is a secret!" Ryan smiled mysteriously, telling no one. The matter of the Heart of Heaven's Punishment was best kept buried—he still hadn't fully grasped what the thing was even for.

"All right—next we just take the third floor and beat the castle lord, and we clear it!" With that, Ryan gathered the loot for everyone to pick through. … [Dragon Blood City Announcement: The "Demonfae Keep" squad led by player Prince Playful has cleared the Ashan Castle dungeon (Elite difficulty), clear time 1 hour 25 minutes 32 seconds—setting the fastest clear record, currently ranked first!] An announcement rang across Dragon Blood City, and shock crossed every player's face.

"Heavens! A first clear of Elite! Demonfae Keep is amazing!"

"Looks like Dragon Blood City's number-one guild spot is going to Demonfae Keep…"

"No idea how they pulled it off!"

"Check the rankings—their people hold the top two spots, and by the classes, those are rare classes. Far stronger than ordinary players, no doubt." … Over in the Dungeon Plaza, it was livelier still. Prince Playful and his Demonfae Keep crew puffed out their chests, heads held high, basking in the envious, worshipful looks—delighted to their cores.

"Prince! I'll bear your children!!!"

"Great one, how do I become a member of Demonfae Keep?"

"Do you have some special clear-strategy? Could you share it?" Drinking in the adoration, the Demonfae Keep members wore smug looks, all but ready to stamp "First Elite Clear of Ashan Castle" across their faces.

"Sorry—our Demonfae Keep only takes pretty girls!" Prince Playful smirked, adjusting his mask.

"As for that strategy you mentioned… of course we have one, but—it's none o' your beeswax!"

"Wow, Prince, you're so cool! I love you!"

"That's it, I'm in love!"

"Ahh, I'm dead!" A pack of girls swooned, undone by Prince Playful's put-on aloofness.

"All right—from now on, any beauty willing to join Demonfae Keep as one of our little fae, come sign up with Balala over here. We'll assess you and make our decision!" At his word, countless girls swarmed forward, scrambling over each other. Watching them, Prince Playful smirked, his face wreathed in satisfaction. But a sudden announcement froze the smile on his face—and turned it, at last, to terror.

[Dragon Blood City Announcement: Player "Achilles Boyd" has cleared the Ashan Castle dungeon (King difficulty), clear time 36 minutes 43 seconds—setting the fastest clear record, currently ranked first!]